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Hey everyone!I am new to the forum and am curious how you feel learning communities benefit educators when it comes to developing a collective responsibility as educators. Do you feel a forum like…Continue

Hi David Maybe its obvious to some but I'm not sure how to play and I also want to create a top 5 game as well. What is the point of it. There are always 5 answers. Do the students guess according to…Continue

The page is a great tip! I'm currently reading One hundred years of solitude and think it is great/bizzare especially when followed by these illustrations.
The same illustrator did another book I like and it has personal meaning for me: The Master and Margarita.
I've always loved when book have pictures, but it seems that it is not so usual any more (question of money?) and it is a pity...

There is a fun discussion going on over at Fireside, Hit them books before hitting the road! The idea is to choose ten books to pack along with you as you move to a dream location. I wrote this post as a reply to that discussion. I hope others will cross post too!

I am almost feeling panicky, in a pretend way, because I don't think I have the 10 books in my house! I will have to make a trip to Powells (yes, I am showing off that I live in the city with the biggest bookstore in the world : ) ).

I'll start with the sentimental...

1. The Animal Family by Randall Jarrell (illus. by Maurice Sendak, a little plus). A story about a lonely hunter who falls in love with a mermaid, and the family they create together. I first read this book to my own children, then to every class I have taught, from spec ed k-4 to GED classes for kids who had left school and everything in between. I lent it to the guidence counselor in the first school I taught at, to read to his wife at bedtime. He returned the book with a big smile. It is the perfect book for bringing about a tangible tenderness, in the classroom or in the family.

2. The Land I Lost (Adventures of a boy growing up in Vietnam) by Quang Nhuong Huynh, illus by Dinh Mai Vo. Some people have a family crest, we have a family book. I can't tell you how many times our copy has been read. Where else are you going to learn how to capture a boa constrictor? (You catch it by its head, then hold your arms up and let it coil around your body, and walk home while gently biting its tail- this is an important detail, because it's what keeps the snake from constricting and suffocating you! When you get home a friend helps you uncoil the snake. Once you can tame it, you can use the coiled snake as a cool pillow for your head.) The book is about 12 chapters, each with a great story about living in a small village on jungle's edge, in central highlands of Vietnam. You will long for your own water buffalo well before the book ends. The first edition has the prettiest cover- Vo's art is lovely.

3. Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel. When my son was recently in the hospital, this is one of the books I brought to him for comfort. I had so much fun reading this book to him and his brother when they were little. They loved it so much!! We had to wait for the rest of the trilogy to be written, and by the time the third book was published, they were old enough to read it to themselves. I just found out tonight that a 4th book, the prequel, has been published. I will have to get it tomorrow as a surprise!